Council backs campaign to stop ‘rat run’ lorries

A CAMPAIGN to introduce a weight restriction for heavy goods vehicles passing through Henley has received a boost.

South Oxfordshire District Council voted in favour of a motion by Henley councillor Stefan Gawrysiak calling for a 7.5-tonne limit on vehicles with no business in the town.

However, a traffic regulation order still has to be granted by Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority.

Councillor Gawrysiak is supporting a campaign started by Amanda Chumas, of Bell Streeet, to prevent HGVs using Henley as a shortcut.

They say the vehicles are highly polluting and put pedestrians’ lives in danger as well as damaging the town’s historic buildings.

Cllr Gawrysiak, who is also a county councillor, said that Burford and Chipping Norton had already been granted a 7.5-tonne limit to tackle air pollution and he wanted the same for Henley.

The traffic regulation order would apply within a five-mile radius of Henley to include villages along the B481, which leads south off the M40 through Christmas Common and Nettlebed towards Henley.

“This motion was to signal the indication that the district council is supportive of this move,” said Cllr Gawrysiak. “There is still an awful lot of work that I and Henley Town Council have to do and I will fully engage with all the villages around Henley to make sure we get the best possible outcome.”

The motion was seconded by Councillor David Turner, who represents Chalgrove.

He said: “Henley has, for far too long, suffered the problems of heavy goods vehicles travelling through its narrow streets and adding to its high levels of pollution.

“This is a problem in the whole of South Oxfordshire and I would hope members would support Stefan’s motion. It will give some impetus to the county council to solve the HGV problem and pollution.

“I hope it will kick-start the county council into doing something to help the situation in the whole district but particularly Henley. It is long overdue.”

Councillor Jo Robb (Woodcote and Rotherfield) said: “If this is a successful scheme, it will throw a ring of protection around the parishes on the B481 and will force lorries and HGVs on to the strategic road network where they should be anyway. Large HGVs have no place rat-running through narrow streets and historic villages.”

Councillor Leigh Rawlins (Sonning Common) said: “We must acknowledge that the air quality problems in Henley are serious. They do have impacts on health, particularly of children and the more elderly and vulnerable people.

“It is perfectly apparent that Henley is not designed to take the kind of large vehicles that are going through right now. Anywhere else on the scale of Henley would have had a bypass by now but of course Henley is right next to a river and that complicates life.

“In that context, this is the only sensible measure that can be taken and I applaud the thought that has gone into this proposal and the care that has been taken to make provision for roads like the B481.”

Air quality campaigner David Dickie, of St Katherine’s Road, Henley, told the council that in the first 20 days of December, the recommended maximum limits for nitrogen dioxide in Henley were broken 18 times.

He continued: “We need more action on heavy polluting vehicles soon. We have installed a particulate monitor and almost every day we do not meet the World Health Organisation standards for PM10, which is a bit of a worry.

“When I go around the primary schools the number of children using inhalers is something like 20 per cent. I would hope something might be done soon.”

Henley Mayor Ken Arlett said: “It is not just Henley that has this problem. In the future you could look at Shiplake, Nettlebed, Huntercombe, Bix, Sonning Common — you name it, they all have a knock-on effect from these massive lorries.

“If anybody doesn’t support this motion, can I ask you next time you’re in town, just stand on the corner of New Street and Bell Street and you will see what the problem is. Just about every other day, a lorry gets stuck on that corner, They’re so long that they literally can’t get around the corner.”

Nearly 2,500 residents have signed an online petition in support of the campaign. Parish councillors from Bix and Assendon, Nettlebed, Kidmore End, Sonning Common and Rotherfield Greys have also indicated their support.

The order, which would cost about £125,000, would be enforced using automatic number plate recognition cameras.